A TINY kitten found abandoned by the roadside has had a purr-fect ending after she was adopted by the veterinary trainee who helped save her life.

Nala the ginger kitten was cared for by staff at The Firs in Kelsall including trainee veterinary nurse Abbie Fletcher, who lives in Middlewich and splits her time between working at the surgery and a three-year veterinary course at Reaseheath College in Nantwich.

Nala was spotted by quick-thinking cat-lover Rachael Evans lying helplessly on a grass verge as she drove to work in Wrexham. Just a few days old she was obviously in need of urgent attention.

After calling a number of vets and cat rescue organisations and being told they couldn’t help, Rachael, of Mouldsworth in Cheshire finally rang her own vets, The Firs in Kelsall, part of the Willows Veterinary Group.

They agreed to take in the feline foundling and put her under the expert care of trainee veterinary nurse Abbie, 18, who gave her weeks of loving round the clock attention until she was fighting fit.

By the end of her vigil Abbie had developed such a strong bond with her that she called her Nala and gave her a permanent home where she’s now thriving.

The caring women who saved her life came together at The Firs to see how Nala was progressing. The trio included Rachael’s mum Liz Weston who picked Nala up from her daughter and rushed her to the vets.

Rachael, 44, who has two rescue cats of her own called Bella and Bailey, said: “I was driving to work early one morning when I looked down and saw a kitten nestling in the grass by the side of the road.

“I pulled over for a closer look and saw a ball of ginger fluff which was the smallest kitten I’d ever seen.

“I realised it was probably less than a week old from the way its eyes were still closed.

“I looked around for the mother but there was no sign of her, so I knew I had to do something to help.

“I phoned around a few places but they all told me they weren’t able to help me. That’s when I called The Firs who look after my own two cats. They told me to get her over to their surgery as soon as possible.

“I couldn’t make it because I had to get into work, so I called my mum, who lives near me in Mouldsworth, and asked her to help.

“She agreed to drive over to Wrexham and take her to The Firs.”

Rachael added: “At the vets, Nala was placed under the care of Abbie who looked after her day and night until she pulled round.

“The way the surgery helped out really warmed my heart. It was wonderful what was done for her, especially by Abbie.

“The fact that Abbie herself has now given Nala a home is a great end to the story.”

Abbie said:“It was really lucky that Rachael found her when she did and arranged for her to be brought in to us because if she’d have been left for a couple more hours without her mum she would probably have died. Between us we saved Nala’s life.

“Kittens can go downhill pretty quickly when they’re that young and she was only about a week old, which we could tell from her eyes still being closed and her ears sealed over as they are right after being born.

“She was cold and hungry, so I was put in charge of her care and started to build up her strength.

“I took her home with me and for the first 10 days she had to be fed with milk every two hours, which meant getting up throughout the night.

“For the next few weeks she had to be fed every three hours, so I had to take her to work at the surgery where I could keep up her feeding routine. It was tiring but well worth it.”

Abbie, who has been at The Firs for two years, added: “She’s now doing really well and is a real little fighter.

“In fact, she has such a loveable personality that I decided to keep her. I live at home with my mum, Clare, and my little sister Ellie, 11, and she fits in well with us all.

“She’s now very playful and at that naughty kitten stage. She’s certainly not intimated by our other family pet, a six-year-old Staffie Cross bitch called Storm.”